Page 37 - Flathead Beacon // 8.20.14

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AUGUST 20, 2014 | 37 “I want coffee to be something
we all can be happy about, from the farmer to the roaster all the way to the consumer,” he said.
As the tour of the roastery comes to a close, Brant prepares his guests a cup of Wote Kanga coffee from Ethiopia. It’s a natural pressing coffee, which means that the entire cherry is left out to dry, the seed is never removed and the coffee itself has a rich, wild taste.
“Ethiopia is where coffee origi- nated,” Brant said. “That’s why it always holds such a mystique for me and why I want to help the people that keep it going.”
Scott Brant will be holding a retire- ment party at the Bohemian Hall, behind Montana Coffee Traders at the Highway 93 location on Friday, Aug. 22, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. The public is invited and coffee may be served.
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coffee the next day. That was our advantage,” Brant said.
As the company thrived, Brant also helped novice roasters all over the world, including in Moscow right after the fall of communism.
“They hadn’t had good coffee in years,” he said, showing a bright red packet of coffee with “Montana Coffee” posted across the front in Cyrillic, but business in Montana was too busy for him to stay in the Russian market.
Today, Montana Coffee Traders is served in cafes all over the state, including to one of its very first cus- tomers, Butterfly Herbs in Missoula. Every week, the roastery off U.S. Highway 93 receives about 80 bags of coffee, each weighing 154 pounds. The coffee beans come from Honduras, Costa Rica, Ethiopia and dozens of other countries.
“Ethiopia is special because it is one of the few coffee-producing countries that drinks coffee. It’s part of their culture and they’re willing to share it with the rest of the world,” Brant said.
In his office, he has a picture of an Ethiopian “cupping,” or coffee tast- ing. The storage room, roasting room and shop itself are also dotted with pictures Brant has taken on his trav- els. Many are of the bright red coffee cherries that hide the precious beans; others are of the sifting process; and the majority showcase the bean itself.
“I’m amazed at the amount of work
that goes into growing and producing coffee,” Brant said.
This is one of the reasons he and Montana Coffee Traders have always tried to develop healthy relations between roasters and growers.
Coffee growers all over Central and South America describe “los meses fla- cos,” the thin months when the money from the last harvest has run out and the next harvest is months away.
“Ultimately, if they don’t suc- ceed, they will stop growing, and then where will we be?” Brant asked before explaining his new philanthropic ven- ture, Coffeelands Foundation.
After more than 30 years in the coffee business, Brant isn’t ready to actually retire, even though he stepped down from his role at Montana Coffee Traders on Aug. 15. He’s also not satisfied with the progress that has been made to help the coffee-growing communities. Although
Montana Coffee Traders
often pays well above the
market rate for some of its
beans and tries to buy Fair
Trade and Organic beans
the rest of the time, Brant
said it’s not enough.
“What happens when the farmers have a bad season? Even when we pay above the market price, are they getting what they deserve for the amount of work they do?” he asked.
He said he doesn’t want to make people feel guilt with every sip of coffee, but rather make them aware and perhaps prepare them to pay more for the drink they love.
Coffeelands Foundation, which is in its first year, has a simple goal. It wants to convince roasters to donate one cent for every pound of coffee they buy. That money will then be dis- tributed to NGOs that work in coffee- growing communities. Coffee prices vary by a couple of cents every day on the commodities market and thus add- ing an extra cent shouldn’t be a prob- lem, according to Brant.
“I feel like I’m bridging the gap between the roasters and the non- profits,” he said, noting that services not directly related to the growing, such as women’s health care and edu- cation, will be crucial to the long-term future of coffee.
“COFFEE IS THIS EXOTIC AND MYSTERI- OUS PRODUCT, GROWN ALL OVER THE WORLD IN PLACES I HAD NEVER HEARD OF, I WAS HOOKED.” - SCOTT BRANT
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